Adventure Gamers - Forums

Just got an email from Himalaya Studios. They are trying to put an updated version of Al Emmo on Greenlight. They are asking for votes. Incentive is that if the game makes it to Greenlight, those who already have a copy of Al Emmo will get the update for free. New version includes, but isn’t limited to new voice acting and 2D v. the original 3D cutscenes. Both of which I think are huge improvements. More information, along with some new screenshots can be found at the Himalaya website.

Oops! Probably should have included the Greenlight site.
Greenlight

No love for The Sea Will Claim Everything? It’s almost depressive the lack of attention this unique game has gotten: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=93006822

I found out about Metal Dead today. More than deserving to be Greenlighted: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=93086145

Not sure if Hoodwink and Shadows on the Vatican have been mentioned here (I’ve been compiling a list myself).

Folks, I’d like to share some insight on the inner workings of this Greenlight thing. I’ve been investigating a little and the ranking system is really obscure, but not as unfriendly as it seems. It’s important to understand how you can help to get your favorite game on Steam:

1) Don’t pay attention to the number of positive ratings. It’s highly discouraging and in a way I think that’s the point. Votes seem to be validated over time, so even if thousands and thousands of users vote on the very first day, the game could remain at 0%. Take a look at this comment from a (supposedly) Steam mod: http://cl.ly/JUwV - so, popular games will get noticed regardless of the percentage of positive ratings. But what it means to be popular?

2) Collecting titles is crucial. Collections are a means for users to list their preferred games on Greenlight, and some of these can have thousands of followers. Consider creating a collection and adding the games that you like, or upvoting already existing collections with adventures. This can increase the awareness of titles quite a bit.

3) Favoriting seems to be highly important as well. When you vote, consider adding the game as a favorite as well.

4) Leave a comment after you vote. Always, anything, even if it’s a simple “Yay!”.

All of the above can help increase the popularity of a game. This is for example a collection I’ve compiled with some promising adventures. It’s not meant to be exhaustive: http://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/?id=96152495

Agustín Cordes - 16 September 2012 05:40 PM

Folks, I’d like to share some insight on the inner workings of this Greenlight thing. I’ve been investigating a little and the ranking system is really obscure, but not as unfriendly as it seems. It’s important to understand how you can help to get your favorite game on Steam:

1) Don’t pay attention to the number of positive ratings. It’s highly discouraging and in a way I think that’s the point. Votes seem to be validated over time, so even if thousands and thousands of users vote on the very first day, the game could remain at 0%. Take a look at this comment from a (supposedly) Steam mod: http://cl.ly/JUwV - so, popular games will get noticed regardless of the percentage of positive ratings. But what it means to be popular?

2) Collecting titles is crucial. Collections are a means for users to list their preferred games on Greenlight, and some of these can have thousands of followers. Consider creating a collection and adding the games that you like, or upvoting already existing collections with adventures. This can increase the awareness of titles quite a bit.

3) Favoriting seems to be highly important as well. When you vote, consider adding the game as a favorite as well.

4) Leave a comment after you vote. Always, anything, even if it’s a simple “Yay!”.

All of the above can help increase the popularity of a game. This is for example a collection I’ve compiled with some promising adventures. It’s not meant to be exhaustive: http://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/?id=96152495

The first one is very obvious. Valve openly stated that the number doesn’t influence whether or not it should be green lit. Niche games will no doubt make its way to Steam, as long as the niche audience fancy’s it and it has good production values.

The rest, I second. ^_^ Always good for the fans to get involved, and voting is only the tip of the iceburg of involvement.

The only game on that list of yours that I didn’t like was Al Emmo. Ugh, *PUKES*. -_-

wilco - 17 September 2012 06:12 AM

Steam Greenlight is just too weird… Why do so many comercial adventure games that are available in other stores have to go through this system? It makes no sense…

Someday they will do kickstart system where when a game reaches a number of pre-orders they put it on Steam… It’s just stupid

I don’t see what you’re confused about. Steam has an extremely large consumer base. Greenlight is there for the consumer base to make an opinion and help out Valve on deciding what games should be sold on Steam, ranging from Niche to Very Well done games. All I know is if you put up a shit game on Greenlight, don’t expect anything.

In the end, I still don’t know what you’re confused about. Greenlight or why steam is so important?

Publishers consistently have told me that Steam accounts for 70% of all sales in PC gaming. Not just digital, mind you: ALL sales.

Also, I had the opportunity to sit down with a Steam executive during Gamescom. His statement regarding titles such as the ones mentioned on this thread was: “adventure games don’t sell”. So there’s your reason why high profile games like Gray Matter have to go through Greenlight.

This is worrisome, which is why I’ve been insisting that we all support adventures on Steam regardless of whether you love/hate the service.

Agustín Cordes - 17 September 2012 02:56 PM

This is worrisome, which is why I’ve been insisting that we all support adventures on Steam regardless of whether you love/hate the service.

The problem is that you must be a Steam user in order to support a game on Greenlight.

Now that may sound like the ultimate “Well, Duh!” type of comment. But it is possible to support an individual political candidate without supporting the party to which that candidate belongs. So, while I would like to support, for example, Al Emmo on Greenlight, I can’t because I am not a Steam user. May be in the future, but not now.

That said, the people at Himalaya also see the logic in Steam’s position. As they said, “Yeah, unfortunately Steam has set it so that people need to make at least one purchase before they can vote. I guess that’s their way of ensuring that developers won’t sign up for a bunch of duplicate Steam accounts to upvote their own games multiple times.”

rtrooney - 17 September 2012 07:16 PM

The problem is that you must be a Steam user in order to support a game on Greenlight.

Now that may sound like the ultimate “Well, Duh!” type of comment.

You’re right, it does.

But it is possible to support an individual political candidate without supporting the party to which that candidate belongs.

It is in the USofA? Boy, does that sound warped! Makes me glad I’m here and not there.

So, while I would like to support, for example, Al Emmo on Greenlight, I can’t because I am not a Steam user. May be in the future, but not now.

Maybe that’s not such a bad thing, considering your many unpleasant posts about Al Emmo in the past.

wilco - 17 September 2012 07:06 PM

Monolith - 17 September 2012 02:48 PM

I don’t see what you’re confused about. Steam has an extremely large consumer base. Greenlight is there for the consumer base to make an opinion and help out Valve on deciding what games should be sold on Steam, ranging from Niche to Very Well done games. All I know is if you put up a shit game on Greenlight, don’t expect anything.

In the end, I still don’t know what you’re confused about. Greenlight or why steam is so important?

Greenlight.
I get that having their games on Steam is really important for publishers and developers like dtp should try to use greenlight to get them there.

Greenlight for indie games could also be potentially cool for projects to get the word out there and for the project to gain relevance - although it could be a popularity contest and good games still be left out.

But let’s take Gray Matter as an example, it’s a very well-known game by a famous developer, probably some people in the steam offices have played it and know that it is good/decent, so there is a reason why it isn’t there in the first place (Whatever it is it’s their reason and I’ve got no problem with that).
So, the greenlight in this case only serves to show steam that there is an audience big enough to buy this game. I just think it kind of defeats the purpose and makes it very commercial and scary to think a lot of adventure games or other genres not very popular have to be selected by a large random community so I can be able to buy them on one of my favourite services.

Also the question “Would you buy this game if it was available on Steam?” is weird because no I wouldn’t, I bought from one of the others services have the game… shouldn’t it be “Do you think this game should be is interesting/good?” or something like that… - yeah this is just nitpicking I know.

Just to be clear, I love Steam and after gog.com it’s my favourite digital store, maybe I’m just not seeing what this Greenlight can represent.

 

Well like I said, Valve stated games aren’t greenlit because of popularity. Greenlight represents a community based way of telling valve, “Why isn’t this game being sold?”. Simple as that. Popularity or not, if its a good game that has a niche, it will be considered for sale.

My “many unpleasant posts” were strictly related to the initial cost of the game. Once the game found it’s correct price point I bought it. And, quite enjoyed it. And I even bought an autographed poster, which, I presume is suitable for framing should I ever decide to do so.

And, because Himalaya has said that I will be eligible for the “upgrade” regardless, I have no motivation to promote the Greenlight of Al Emmo other than I think it deserves a shot. As I’m not a Steam member, I can’t vote. But I can recommend a vote to those who are.

Thumbs up for Al Emmo.

Mister Ed - 19 September 2012 08:45 PM

Fien - 18 September 2012 12:18 AM

But it is possible to support an individual political candidate without supporting the party to which that candidate belongs.

It is in the USofA? Boy, does that sound warped! Makes me glad I’m here and not there.

Wait, what? How does voting for a person instead of a party sound warped? I’ve always found it kind of bizarre that so many people do the opposite, voting for a party no matter who they have running. Guess that’s why I’ve never seen fit to register for a party. I’ve voted for people from both major parties (and some that weren’t from either) on a case by case basis, and can’t imagine thinking that I needed to support the party as a whole to do so.

Because so far, that is how the current election is looking. Omg he’s great because he’s black and liberal! FTW! jk